Édouard Daladier

Daladier, Édouard (ādōärˈ dälädyāˈ) [key], 1884–1970, French politician, a Radical Socialist. After World War I he was a member of successive French cabinets. He was premier from Jan. to Oct., 1933, and again from Jan. to Feb., 1934, when the Stavisky Affair, which did not implicate him personally, caused serious riots in Paris and forced his resignation. In Apr., 1938, Daladier obtained the premiership and was also minister of national defense. He did his best to nullify the social and economic legislation enacted by the four previous cabinets and signed (Sept., 1938) the Munich Pact. From 1939 he was also minister of war and foreign affairs. He resigned as premier in Mar., 1940, because his failure to aid Finland's defense against Russia was unpopular, but he remained in the cabinet until the French collapse (June) in World War II. Arrested by the Vichy government in 1940, he was a defendant at the war-guilt trial at Riom (1942), was interned by the Germans, and was liberated in 1945. Daladier was elected to the national assembly in 1946. He sat in the assembly until 1958.